About Us

Club History

Early Days

Belvedere Football Club was founded in 1971 to provide a dedicated football organization for young people from the north Inner-city area of Dublin. It originally started as a section of the Belvedere Youth Club. The club entered the Dublin and District Schoolboys League in the 1971/72 season and had just four teams competing (12G, 12H, 13E and 15D).
Over the next few years momentum grew and a number of well known local football and youth clubs merged with the emerging Belvedere and the club became bigger and stronger expanding its core base and expertise. Within five years the club had a team in every 'Premier' section of the league from Under 12 (the youngest at the time), up to prestige level at Under 18.
.

Developing the Club

The number of teams, players and coaches continued to increase as large numbers of families from the north Inner-city moved to the new estates on the northern outskirts of the city whilst remaining loyal to the unique camaraderie created by being part of Belvedere. Today boys from all over the greater Dublin area and well beyond play in the famous Belvedere sky blue and black but our roots are firmly remain in the North Inner City and our home ground of Fairview Park. Belvedere has won 120+ premier league and cup competitions in our history. Last season, we won nine league and cup trophies and finished runners-up in three others. These included the U17 All-Ireland Cup, Premier League and Premier Cup, the U16 Premier League and Cup, while the U15’s won the All-Ireland cup for the 2nd season running whilst finishing runners-up in the U15 Premier.

Club and International Success

An amazing 196 Belvedere players have been capped by Ireland from the Under 15 age-group up to and including senior international level. Thirty-eight players capped at Under 21 level and ten full senior internationals are included in the overall figure. In the Season (2009/2010), 23 Belvedere players played for Ireland – 8 at U16, 2 at U17, 2 at U18, 3 at U19, 3 at U21, 3 at U23 and 3 (Stephen Kelly, Keith Treacy & Killian Sheridan) in full internationals. Twenty-eight former Belvedere players are currently on contract with senior English and Scottish clubs, fifty-two are registered with for League of Ireland clubs. Included in that figure are four players who play with UCD on soccer scholarships. There are also several players on scholarships in the USA.

Future Plans and Ambitions

This year the club has representative sides at U8, U9, U10 and U11 in the DDSL Small Side Game as well as teams at all age levels up to U17 level the majority challenging for League honours at Premier level or just below. 2011 was a landmark year for the club in many ways as we marked our 40th anniversary as one the country’s most successful and progressive schoolboy football academies. The opening of the all weather pitches at the Clontarf Road Complex as well as the new dressing rooms in Fairview Park ensure the clubs future is secure whilst giving our players and coaches access to state of the art playing and training facilities all year round. The history book as well as the trophy cabinet of the ‘boys in blue’ is ever growing and the future certainly looks bright.

Club Contacts

All Football related qureries should be routed through the Club Secretary:

Club Sponsorship

Running a succesful schoolboy soccer club is a costly business. Find out how you can help us nurture the stars of the future

Running a leading schoolboy club is a costly business. The club is a voluntary organization entirely funded by its members. A number of initiatives such as the membership fee, Aviva Draw and the monthly Spot the Balls are essential to the continued provision of services and facilities. Sponsoring a team or taking a web advert can also help as well as creating a high level of exposure for companies big and small. Webtrade.ie, AWAS, and O'Neills are all proud club sponsors. If you would like more details on sponsorship or have other areas of expertise that may help the club please contact us today.

Chairmans Message

Belvedere Football Club was founded in 1971 and we feel that our 40th birthday in 2011 is something we should celebrate with all our present and past players and friends. As many of you know, we started off as a small local North Inner City club and gradually became one of the big elite clubs of Irish schoolboys football – hopefully without us losing sight of our roots and becoming arrogant or pompous!

We believe that we have been reasonably successful over the years; we have won many trophies and awards by trying to play an attractive and passing style of football; many of our players have gone on to play at the highest level; many of our managers and coaches have also gone on and achieved much in the game; and most of our managers and players also have had a lot of fun while they have been with us in Belvo – or at least we hope they have!

All of this, of course, hasn’t happened by chance. A huge amount of time, energy and commitment by many people over the years has gone into ensuring that what Brian Kerr said about us on our 30th anniversary remains true today: “Thirty years ago Belvedere was nothing more than another new club. What was achieved since should be an inspiration for every ambitious club – big or small – in the country. You don’t need great facilities, although they are certainly a help; what you need is a vision, people prepared to work hard and improve their own knowledge in order to help the young players in their charge fulfil their potential.”

It is especially pleasing to note we have now added brand new dressing rooms in Fairview and new state-of-the-art all-weather playing and training facilities at Clontarf to the hard work and vision mentioned by Brian. Another exciting development is the football academy being organised by the club’s Director of Football, Jimmy Jackson, for young players.

However well any football club is progressing, it has a future only if it can attract good new managers and coaches. Accordingly, we are appealing to all present and past Belvedere players and supporters to consider coming back and joining us in a coaching or management role.

At this time, it is appropriate to thank all current and past managers and executive committee members for their dedicated voluntary service to Belvedere Football Club and, indeed, to the wider community over the years. Especially, we must mention Martin Cooke and Gerry Mooney whose tremendous hard work and professionalism have ensured the club’s well-being in these difficult times, and Philip Manly who has performed so many roles for Belvedere over the years.
We also fondly remember at this time all those who, like Noel O’Reilly, Belvedere’s greatest coach, have passed away and make sure we do so with a smile, thinking of the happy times we shared together in Belvedere FC.